


semi-finals: Coming Out

by CheersToEngland, mizinvizible, Narrybabes



Series: The Bromance Games [6]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Coming Out, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-28
Updated: 2013-11-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 20:27:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheersToEngland/pseuds/CheersToEngland, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizinvizible/pseuds/mizinvizible, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narrybabes/pseuds/Narrybabes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Louis and Liam are cute and oblivious.</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Louis and Liam are cute and oblivious.

Liam smiled to himself as he hung up on his phone call with Simon. Though he rarely talked to the boys anymore, he was always there for the important things. And Liam's plan was most definitely important. Louis had been dropping hints for the longest time, but he never directly said it. Not that Liam had any kinds of problems with it. They had been together for over two years, it's about time they tell people. So Liam decided to surprise Louis. He figured Louis would have thought he'd have to do it by himself and Liam wanted to make him happy.

He had just gotten off the phone with Simon informing him he was going to do a press conference. Oh course they were given permission to come out around a year ago, but they didn't talk about it. Liam knew Louis had been dying to. You see Louis was always one to make a statement. He probably would have come out after their first date if they let him. Liam didn't mind though. He had gotten used to it over the years. It was just one of the things that made him love Louis now.

To show that love he wanted to make this big gesture. Let Louis know he cared just as much as the older boy, because sometimes Liam feared he didn't. Louis had his insecurities and Liam knew of them, so it was his job to make Louis feel more secure, more loved, and the best way to do that was to show the world. He just had to find a way to keep it from Louis.

As he made his way downstairs he saw it wouldn't be too hard. Louis was gone, to where Liam had no clue, so he wrote him and note and was on his way.

*

Louis tapped impatiently on the steering wheel as traffic was bumper to bumper. He was early sure, but he was also extremely nervous to get to where he was going, not that he'd admit that, but it was a scary thing what he was doing.

He hadn't told anyone, he was afraid they wouldn't let him do it. If no one knew then no one could stop him. Besides, he was an adult, he had the right to make his own decisions and others shouldn't get a say in his life. So he kept driving, ignoring the demons in his head.

His biggest fear really was that Liam wouldn't approve. As much as he hated to admit it after four years of knowing Liam and almost three of dating him, he still didn't fully understand the boy. That made him a little paranoid. What if Liam was mad? What if Liam wasn't ready? All of the 'what ifs' raced through Louis' mind as he tried to tell himself otherwise. It's not like he had never brought it up and Liam had never seemed opposed to the issue, so it should be fine. Surprising sure, but fine nonetheless.

Louis managed to keep himself significantly calm on the rest of his drive. This was what he wanted, so any consequences he would have to face would be of his own doing.

By the time he reached the studio everything was ready. They were just waiting for him. After a quick touch up and some deep breathing, Louis stepped out onto the stage. Louis had been interviewed solo before so this wasn't new. He wouldn't even be nervous if it weren't for what he was about to reveal.

The interviewer introduced herself and Louis shook her hand, forgetting her name just as quickly as all the rest. The interview started out normally. Louis was acting a little strange, answering questions quickly and zoning out often, anticipating what was soon to come.

Then the time finally did come, and Louis still wasn't ready for it.

“So I hear you have an announcement to make so I'll let you take the stage.” Louis gulped and tried to steady his breathing.

“Yeah, um. I'll just jump right into it I guess,” he took a moment to steady himself.

“There's been a lot of rumors and speculation about me, about the band as a whole, but I'd just like to come clean about some of those. As cliché as it is, I am in fact gay,” he let the audience react as a million things were shouted at him.

He held a hand to quiet them, to his surprise the complied, “Yes I've been gay for quite some time, it's not a recent realization. Eleanor is a close friend who agreed to help me right when the band was getting started, but we were never actually dating. There is someone very special in my heart, if you'd all like to know who that is,” he smiled and eyed the audience. Excited murmurs went around the room and someone started a chant of 'Larry Stylinson.'

He laughed lightly, “Good try but no. I've been dating this boy for almost three years now and I finally thought it was time that we come out. He doesn't know I'm doing this, but I'm praying he'll forgive me for it. Liam this one's for you.” The crowd went silent. Louis palms began to sweat again. But as quickly as the noise had stopped, it started right back up again. Cheers were heard around the room and smiles lit up the faces of all the fans. Louis could finally breathe.

“Thank you very much that will be all for today,” he spoke again before walking off the stage with the world's largest grin on his face. Now to just face Liam.

*

Liam made his way down the hall with butterflies in his stomach. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to do this, but with a picture of Louis in his head it made it a whole lot easier.

He made his way onto the stage and faced the waiting press.

“I'm sure you all want to know the reason why I called you here today,” he spoke clearly into the microphone as cameras flashed away in front of him.

He cleared his throat, “I guess I'm here to tell you that I'm the Lance Bass of One Direction, but really, if I'm being honest, there are two Lance's in this band.”

The press looked shocked, but Liam didn't let it damage his confidence, he looked back down at the script he'd prepared. “The past four years have undoubtedly been the best ones of my life, and three of them have been because I've had someone very special to share them with. We were told we could come out around a year ago, but we never really talked about it. I know he's wanted to do this though and I have to, so here goes nothing.”

He leaned down and made sure to speak directly to the cameras, “I, Liam Payne, am head over heels in love with Louis Tomlinson,” he let his announcement sink in before taking questions.

“How long have you been dating?” One reporter asked.

“It will be three years as of next Tuesday,” he smiled at the thought of three years with the love of his life.

“What about Danielle?”

“What about her?” Liam shrugged nonchalantly.

“Are any other members of the band gay?”

“Not that I know of, but Niall does like Justin Bieber a lot,” he joked and the group of reporters all laughed.

“Are you aware that Louis just came out as well?” A lady near the back asked.

“I'm sorry what?” Liam stared at her, confused.

“It's all over twitter, see,” the lady held up her phone and played a short clip of Louis announcing the same thing Liam had just announced. Needless to say, Liam was shocked.

“I'm sorry I have to go. Thank you for your time,” he dismissed himself quickly before taking off towards his car, ignoring the calls of his name and dialing the number he knew all too well hoping the older boy would pick up.

*

Louis answered the phone tentatively, “Hello.”

“Louis, hey,” he heard a sigh of relief, “where are you?” Liam asked

“I'm at the place you did the interview at the other day,” Louis told him.

“Hold on, I'm on my way,” Liam hung up the phone before he could get another word in.

Trying to ease his mind Louis checked twitter to see what everyone was saying about his coming out. Niall, Zayn, and Harry had all tweeted positive things about it and that made him smile. But what surprised him were the posts about Liam coming out. Were the fans that confused?

He didn't get it until he came across a video. Dated with that day showing Liam looking petrified at a press conference. What was this from? He watched the video in silence, mouth dropping open as he heard what Liam had to say. A smile formed on his lips as the video came to an end. He couldn't believe it. Liam had come out for him. Before he could freak out properly about it, Liam came bursting through the door.

“Hi,” he said, out of breath when he saw Louis sitting there.

Louis wasted no time pouncing on him and squeezing him tight, luckily Liam still had enough energy to hold him up, “Hi,” he replied back in a giddy tone.

He pulled back to meet Liam's doe eyes, “Thank you so much. I know we hadn't talked about it, but you have no idea how much it meant to me,” Louis told him seriously.

“It was supposed to be a surprise, but you had to ruin it by coming out first,” Liam pouted jokingly.

“I think this made it better,” Louis argued.

“Well we are out and the world is seemingly accepting of it so I don't think anything could make it better,” Liam returned and Louis agreed. Even if the world didn't accept it he would be fine, because he had Liam, and now, finally, everyone knew that.


	2. Chapter 2

From the second they started dating, Niall wanted to announce it to the world, scream it from the top of his lungs. Harry, however, was scared. He read what was said about him online, the hate and the heartless comments, and he didn’t think he could handle it if there was another thing for them to criticize. Niall begged and pleaded, because just like his bubbly personality, his love couldn’t be pushed down or hidden.   
For months they kept it hidden. Only their immediate family and the other boys knew. Everyone had been one hundred percent accepting, hardly even batting an eye at Niall saying ‘Harry and I are gay and we’re dating’. The fans were a different story. Sure, there was the typical speculation, the ‘Narry shippers’, the fans who noticed the stolen glances and the lingering touches. Niall, being Niall, didn’t give a fuck what people’s opinion would be as long as he and Harry were together. But Harry was so afraid of what could happen if it was confirmed that they were dating, if they revealed they were gay. They would most certainly get hate from some ‘fans’, and all Harry ever wanted was to make everyone happy. He thought that they could lose so much support from it that One Direction might break up and if that ever happened the guilt would eat him alive. One time, Harry had even suggested he started hanging out with Louis more just so the fans would think Larry, not Narry, was real. Niall quickly shot it down, saying that it was ridiculous and he would have none of it.   
“Who cares about them Harry? I get that they’ve gotten us this far, but if they truly support us they’ll support us through whatever,” Niall said constantly. He wanted, no, needed so badly to tell people, be able to publicly show just how much he loved the curly haired boy. 

 

On their 10 month anniversary, Niall decided to bring it up one last time. If Harry didn’t agree to go public, he didn’t know what he would do. Niall didn’t think he could stand one more day keeping his feelings a secret.   
The two were cuddled up under a blanket in a hotel room, watching a movie. Niall had wanted to go out for dinner because 10 months was a long time and he wanted to celebrate, but according to Harry, just the two of them going out was ‘waayyyy too suspicious’.   
Once the movie ended, Niall flicked the light back on then turned to face Harry, holding the taller boy’s large hands in his own.   
“Harry, we really need to talk,” Niall practically whispered. He hated having to bring this up because he knew how worried it made Harry, but he just had to. Harry gulped loudly, fear apparent in his green eyes.  
“O-okay, about what?” He stuttered.   
“About us keeping this whole thing a secret. I know I’ve said it so many times but I don’t think you’re really listening to me, Harry. It kills me each time I try to do something in public and you reject me. I get that we do hug and whisper and you’ll kiss my cheek but you do that with all the other boys and so do I,” Niall began his rant, “but I need, not want Harry, need to be able to hold your hand and kiss you and show you how much you mean to me, not just in the privacy of a hotel room. I understand why you’re scared, I really do but you have to understand that it will be okay if we tell people. Modest! said we could tell the fans whenever we wanted, they wouldn’t say it was okay if they thought it would hurt the band or us.” Niall’s eyes were filling with tears, threatening to spill over. Harry’s lower lip was pushed out into a small pout, his eyes focused on their intertwined fingers. “It’s not just that though,” Niall continued, “I wish I could say just keeping it to ourselves was the worst part. The absolute worst part of this whole thing is how you constantly flirt with girls, both in person and over Twitter. We are together Harry. Just because you don’t want to announce to the whole world that we’re together doesn’t mean that we’re not. You can’t pretend to be straight when you’re in a relationship with me.” Niall’s voice cracked on the last word, showing Harry just how close to tears Niall was. “It just feels like you’re ashamed of me, that you don’t value me at all. I don’t want to be something that you hide away and only use when you want to. Harry, I love you and I thought you loved me too but this is not how you treat the person you love,” Niall sobbed, hot drops of salty water streamed down his paled cheeks. He released Harry’s hands and pulled his knees to his chest, burying his face in the small space between. He wrapped his arms around his shins, hugging himself tightly as a sob ripped from his throat.  
Niall felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him and curls tickled his neck and shoulder as Harry placed his head in the crook of the blonde’s neck. Niall’s shoulder was almost fully exposed, the strap of a tanktop the only thing covering it, and he felt a drop of wetness hit the skin as Harry silently cried with Niall.   
Several minutes went by with the two in this position, Niall struggling to get full breaths as he cried and Harry just holding the little Irish boy as close as he could. Finally, Niall had cried all he could, small whimpers still coming from him. Harry pulled back, his eyes scanning over the boy he loved. Niall’s face was still hidden from Harry, so Harry tried to move Niall’s head so he could see those blue eyes that made his insides melt. Niall refused to be moved, so Harry let out a long, sorrowful sigh.  
“Niall, please look at me,” his voice asked softly. Niall finally obliged, lifting his head so his despair filled blue eyes met Harry’s. Harry reached out and wiped Niall’s tear-stained cheeks with the pad of him thumb. “Niall, I’m so so so sorry. I can’t express how shitty I feel right now. I had no idea it affected you this much. Obviously I knew that you wanted to tell the fans but I seriously had no clue it was this big of a deal to you. I’ve just been so scared. I… I thought that if the fans reacted super negatively that maybe it would hurt our relationship, pull us apart. But I don’t want to upset anyone, especially not you. Come here,” Harry said, patting his lap in an attempt to get Niall in his arms. Niall silently complied, climbing into the boy’s lap and resting his head on Harry’s muscular shoulder. Harry wrapped his arms around him and started running his hand up and down Niall’s back, trying to sooth the still sniffling lad.   
Harry thought for a few moments, his breath matching up with Niall’s as he did so. After almost three minutes of silent thinking, Harry made up his mind. “Tell them. Tell them all,” he whispered in Niall’s ear. Niall’s head snapped up and he scanned Harry’s face to see if he was being genuine.   
“Really?” He croaked out, voice hoarse from crying.   
“Yes, if this is something that means so much to you how could I possibly keep it from you? As long as I have you we’ll be fine, right?” Niall let out a sigh of relief and pulled Harry into a big hug kissing both his cheeks before planting a tender kiss on Harry’s pink lips. 

Niall spent a few days thinking about how he would tell the fans. Many ideas swam through his thoughts but none were quite right. He needed it to be perfect, he’d waited 10 months to tell everyone.   
It was the middle of the last concert in Australia and one of the last concerts of the Take Me Home Tour, and the boys were singing Little Things. Harry sat in between Liam and Louis while Zayn and Niall sat side by side across from the other three on the stairs. Niall strummed his guitar softly, looking up from his hands as Harry started his first solo of the song.   
“I know you’ve never loved the sound of your voice on tape,   
You never want to know how much you weigh,” Harry’s gaze slowly swept across the audience, finally meeting Niall’s eyes, “You still have to squeeze into your jeans, but,”  
“You’re perfect to me,” the two sang together, eyes locked on one another.   
“I won’t let these little things slip out of my mouth,  
But if it’s you,  
It’s you,  
Oh it’s you they add up to,  
I’m in love with you,  
And all your little things,” Harry sang into the microphone, but to Niall, he was just singing to him.   
Niall took a deep breath before starting his solo,  
“You’ll never love yourself,  
Half as much as I love you,  
You’ll never treat yourself right, darlin’,  
But I want you to,  
If I let you know I’m here for you,  
Maybe you’ll love yourself,  
Like I love you, oh.” Niall could just barely see Harry’s lip quiver from across the stage, but it had happened.  
“And I’ve just let these things,  
Slip out of my mouth,” Harry sang.  
“‘Cause it’s you,  
Oh it’s you,  
It’s you they add up to,  
And I’m in love with you,   
And all these little things.”   
All of the boys sang the last section of the song, Harry and Niall just singing from memory and instinct as their minds swam, in an emotional flurry from their little moment on stage. When the song was over, the boys all stood up to go sing on the lower part of the stage. Harry ended up next to Niall and the two laughed to themselves as the music for the next song started playing, it seemed like the setlist was designed for their current situation.  
“People say we shouldn’t be together,  
Too young to know about forever,  
But I say they don’t know what they’re talk talk talkin’ about,” Liam sang the first set of lyrics from They Don’t Know About Us.  
“Cause this love is only getting stronger,   
So I don’t want to wait any longer,  
I just wanna tell the world that you’re mine, ohh,” Niall smiled to himself at the fact that Harry had dropped the world girl from the song, making it more apparent that he was singing for Niall. Niall hardly paid any attention to the rest of the singing, singing again from instinct for his lines until one particular lyric.   
“They don’t know what we do best,   
It’s between me and you,   
Our little secret,” his eyes set on Harry while he sang even if the curly haired boy was now on the other half of the stage, facing the audience.   
Once the song was over, the boys had time to mess around and talk to each other and the girls in the crowd before the show ended. After Louis had finished a story about Liam and how his room almost got broken into, it was Niall’s turn to talk.   
“So, all you Aussies, thank ya so much for havin’ us, we’ve had so much fun in Australia and this is our last show here, for now, but we hope to be back soon singin’ for all of you again,” Niall said a generic thank you and goodbye because that had been the last song of the night. “So, uh, I have some really big, personal news for all of ya. You’re all the first to hear it, so get out yer cameras and start recording this. I want you to post this everywhere, okay? Can ya do that for me?” Niall asked the thousands of girls in the audience. Tons of cameras shot into the air and Niall looked over at Harry to see if he was okay with this. The brunette stared into Niall’s eyes and gave a small nod, silently telling Niall to go on. Niall motioned Harry over and Harry slowly walked over to Niall. Niall caught a look at the rest of the boys and the band, all of whom had the same shocked, yet happy expression on.   
Once Harry was by his side, Niall looked back toward the crowd. “So the big news is… Harry and I are dating.” An immediate weight was lifted off Niall’s shoulders, but it was soon replaced by a gut wrenching fear as a gasp escaped the mouth of every person in the audience, although a few dozen “YES”s were heard scattered throughout the stadium, which was reassuring. Niall thought about grabbing Harry’s hand to prove his point, but he then thought that would be a bit much for the moment.   
“Yeah, we’ve been dating for 10 months now,” Harry spoke up, a small smile spread across his cheeks, causes an indentation to appear on both of his cheeks.   
“We thought it was finally time to tell you all, and we really hope you’ll continue to support us. This doesn’t change anything though, we’ll still be making the same music and we’ll still be the same people,” Niall announced into the microphone, voice echoing slightly in the large venue.   
“Woohoo, congratulations, guys!” Louis said, edging himself between the two and wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders.   
“Alright guys, our time is up. Thank you all again so much for having us here in this beautiful country, see you all soon!” Liam thanked the audience once more.  
“Sorry to leave you all on such a surprising note without talking about it a little more, but oh well!” Zayn shouted before jumping down through the hole in the stage. Liam jumped in next, then followed by Louis. Niall and Harry waved to the audience once last time before jumping down together.   
The crowd was louder now than it had ever been after a show, to no surprise. Harry just pulled Niall into his arms quickly, kissing the top of the bottle blonde’s head. “I’m so happy we did that, I’ve had this pressure in my chest for months now and it’s finally gone.” Niall looked up at Harry, smiling at his words. The two shared a quick kiss but were interrupted by Louis.  
“Are you two going to just be snogging everywhere we go now?” He jokingly asked, the couple just giggled in response before being engulfed in a big group hug. The five boys just stayed in the hug for a few moments, Niall and Harry finally enjoying the feeling of being open and free with who they were.


End file.
